Satisfied that the door appears to be safe, Alexa opens it.
We need to rededicate this temple to Ragathiel. His blessings in our endeavors will be most useful, and by rededicating this we can help to stem the cause of evil
Uriel nods silently, as he looks around at the room.
Alexa opens the eastern door.
It is pitch black inside the room. Unnaturally so: no light spills in from the open door, and your vision cannot penetrate the darkness.
In front of him are three ghouls, also looking at you, and eager to taste your flesh.
Alexa sighs. "...m~!#$~%%%%~!."
Iniative
Alexa promptly retreats to the party. "Three ghouls and some sort of demon. Let them come to us."
Kelly draws her weapons and moves to the wall beside the door, ready to jump out at any targets that may come through.
Darya moves into position at the other side of the door. "Get ready, and when I give the signal, close your eyes."
Arloric joins Kelly at her position and nods to Darya.
"Shall I get the song going once my eyes are closed?"
Those of you who can pierce the magical darkness see a sinister smile form on the half-demon's lips just before he speaks. "You've stumbled into Kibriri's domain, crusaders", his voice booms. "You want us to come to you? Kibriri's might will oblige!"
You sense there's more to his speech than mere words. A divine power lies behind them, and he follows them up with a brief chanting in a language you don't recognize. A dark, greasy cloud rises from the air around you, enveloping the room in sickly-sweet, nauseating fumes. You feel a decay set in as you gasp for air.
.
Darya utters a grunt as she feels the vile energy wash over her, the worst of it failing to penetrate her natural defenses. "Yeah Arloric, that would be a good idea"
Alexa's hair briefly flashes white as the unholy energy blankets her, somehow managing to stave off the worst effects.
Arloric doubles over and retches.
Uriel shrugs of the unholy magic with little apparent effort, then smiles. "That was a mistake, fiend." with that, he dashes up to the first ghoul and attacks.
Kelly winces as the profane energies wash over her, and just barely holds her lunch down.
Uriel surges forward, but ghouls are surprisingly stealthy: he isn't aware of the two lying in wait just inside the room, mirroring Kelly and Darya's own positions. The latter two crusaders can't see into the room at all, and even Arloric--whose vision can pierce the darkness--doesn't spot this latent threat.
As Uriel passes through, the ghouls strike. The one to his right buries its claws into Uriel's flesh. The one to his left lashes out wildly in its excitement and comes up completely empty.
:(
Uriel stops short at the sudden attack, and swings on the ghoul behind the door to his right. Radiance nearly cuts the creature in half, and its remains fall to the ground.
To his left, Uriel catches a glimpse of yet another ghoul through an open doorway.
Two of the ghouls next to the half-demon surge forward to attack Uriel.
The one on Uriel's left lands a bite, and he feels the teeth sink into his skin.
Frustrated, Alexa moves next to Uriel and strikes at Ghoul 9.
Alexa moves in and strikes at the ghoul on Uriel's right, driving her gladius into its decayed flesh.
"I... I can't see in there..."
The last of the ghouls, the one closes to the half-demon, rushes forward to engage Alexa. It lashes out at her with one of its claws, raking them across her leg where she's not protected by armor.
Quickly stepping into the doorway, Darya shouts her warning, signaling the moment she'd prepared her teammates for. "Okay, NOW!!!"
Waiting a few heartbeats for her team to shut their eyes, and the enemies' eyes all to be drawn to her, she shouts the command word, holding her shield aloft, to fill the doorway with blazing golden light.
Alexa flinches, but manages to keep the foul paralytic magics from taking hold of her again.
Arloric, while still retching, shuts his eyes just in time to avoid being blinded by Darya's light!
Then, despite his nausea, he begins singing again!
The half demon utters profane words and steps forward, holding a massive aspergillum in his hands. You can feel its presence around the fringes of your mind.
When he comes to a stop behind the ghouls, he says, "Come to me, and I will show you Kabriri's might, little ones." Again, you sense that there is more to his words than idle chatter and threats. You feel the aspergillum pulsing as he raises it in ready.
That being said, it also occurs to you that he's not really much bigger than any of you, except of course for Kelly.
The ghoul to Uriel's left unleashes a furious assault, biting and clawing at him, but it can't land a blow against the heavily armored paladin.
The ghouls directly in front of Alexa and Uriel shriek as they are blinded by the bright flash from Darya's shield.
With the nausea lifting, Arloric's singing becomes more vigorous and clear!
Uriel takes advantage of Darya's light and attacks the blinded ghouls.
One swing fells the ghoul directly in front of Uriel. He follows that up by slashing at the other blinded ghoul, but its hide is too tough for the glancing blow.